Marissa Mayer, Google’s top executive for local and location services, wrote that Zagat, whose narrow maroon guidebooks seemed to symbolize user-generated feedback in a pre-digital time, will become the cornerstone for the search giant’s local offerings.

On their company’s Web site, Tim and Nina Zagat, who started by distributing a pamphlet on restaurants 32 years ago, said, “Going forward, we will remain active in the business as co-Chairs, helping to ensure that the combination of Zagat’s and Google’s assets and capabilities will maximize our product quality and growth.”